Short chapter...and Jack, it's not you I worry about just now...
Chapter 5: An accident…
They had looked every natural place, now Christy decided to look someplace supernatural. She left Father at home waiting for Vic, and crossed the street to the house of Mr Cole. It was dark, and threatened rain. She remembered another night like this, long ago. The night she had left her old life, and chosen a new path. Now that old life had found her once more. She tapped on the door, and it opened.
“Come on in, sis. We were just sitting down to dinner.”
She entered, and closed the door, walking along the short hallway to the kitchen/dining room. “Adam. I need to talk to you. Now.”
“I know. Would you like to join us?” Adam Cole and his family were seated around a round wooden table. A meatloaf sat on a plate in the centre, and the three girls were sniffing eagerly. Isabelle blessed the meal, and then started serving.
“Do have some dinner with us,” she said. “You’ve had a hard day.”
“No. No, I can’t. I just need to talk with you, bro. Five minutes.”
Adam stood, and placed his napkin on the table. “I’ll be right back.” He kissed Izzy on the check, and led Christy into his study. They heard the triplets speculating on their conversation from the other room. Adam closed the firm door.
Christy paced up and down in front of the wall of potions. “The twins are missing,” she said.
“Aah, I vondered exactly what you had come for. I saw Ron, you know.”
Christy stopped. “You saw him?”
“I felt him. This morning. He was at your house, talking to Miss Mingostone, your mysterious Nanny.”
Her eyes widened. “He what?”
Adam held her arm to steady her. “She didn’t mention the visit?”
“No, she only said that Jack came around.”
“He did, too.”
“What is going on, bro? Why is our, our Nanny,” she spat the word. “Involved with Ron. Why did Jack come around? Where are the twins? Why did Ron have to come back. He was dead...He was dead.”
“Apparently not,” Adam said.
Christy sat down on a plush cushion, her head spinning. “What do we do?” she said.
“One thing at a time. I’ll find the twins.” Adam crossed to the bookshelf, and removed a book. The shelf twisted open, to reveal a smart chair, with a headrest and a panel of controls. Adam shifted a control, and seated himself, as Christy sat up and watched. A beam of light surrounded the chair as he lowered the headrest over his head, and strapped it tight, and closed his eyes, and sent out the message.
His eyes snapped open. Christy started forward. Adam’s mouth moved in silent words. He looked straight through her. This was wrong. Christy hit a switch, and the light shut off. Adam sat up, gasping.
“Are you ok, what’s happened, what?” Christy helped him out of the chair, and he stumbled to the floor.
The door opened, and Isabelle stood there. At the sight of Adam, she flinched into cat form, and bounded forward, landing gently on his chest. She rubbed her face against his neck. “Dearest. Awaken,” she murmured, and purred.
Christy moved away. “What have I done?”
Isabelle leapt up. “What have you done?” she asked, her teeth clashing together, her soft white skin gleaming. “His cranial systems are badly injured. We need to get him to a magic-surgeon, and fast.”
“I’ll get the phone book,” Christy stuttered, running from the room.
*****
“Is Daddy alright?” Anne-Gora asked.
“I think so,” Tabby replied.
“I don’t know,” Kelly said.
The triplets poked their heads out of the bedroom. After the accident, their aunt had hurriedly put them to bed, while their mum helped Daddy into the emergency-ambulance sent from magic school. “Stay here. Be good,” their Aunt had said, leaving with Mr and Mrs Cole.
“What happened?” Anne asked.
“I don’t know,” Kelly said.
“Something bad,” Tabby replied. “Let’s investigate.”
“But Auntie said to stay here,” Anne hissed.
“Yes, she did,” Kelly said. “Didn’t she.”
“So?” Tabby bounced from the bed to the floor, to the door. “Our other auntie tried to eat us once.”
“So it did,” Kelly said.
“I don’t know about this.” Anne crept after the others as they tip-toed down the stairs.
Tabby leapt up, and caught onto the banister, slipping fast down to the bottom of the steps.
“It seems dangerous,” Anne said.
“It’ll be fine. Come on. We need to know what happened, so we can help Daddy.”
“Well, when you put it that way...”
They crossed the landing, and scurried into the kitchen, their tiny nails clicking against the lino floor. “Auntie seemed very nervous about something,” Tabby said.
“Did she?” Kelly asked.
“Yes,” Anne said. “About our cousins, I think.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t. But I think.”
They stopped in front of the study door. It seemed so large, and they so small. Tabby scratched at the door with her claws, then turned human, clicking open the door by the handle.
“Didn’t Daddy say not to go in here?” Anne asked.
“I thought he said we could go anywhere in the house,” Kelly answered.
“Shh,” Tabby said.
They crept into the study. “This is where Daddy was lying,” Anne said, stepping delicately into the middle of the room. “In front of that, wow!”
“What is that? Kelly asked.
“A seat!” Anne said, proudly knowing the answer.
“It’s a machine,” Tabby said. Anne scowled at her.
“Hey, don’t touch it!” Kelly exclaimed.
“It’s not even on,” Tabby said.
Anne batted her paw at a fly. “Shoo.” Her paw hit a switch. “Oops.”
Tabby leapt up onto the seat.
“Get down!” Kelly screamed, as a beam of light appeared.
“Oh no!” Anne lept up beside her sister. “Come on, get down!”
“Sisters,” Kelly muttered, leaping up beside them. “What happens now?”
The headrest swung over them. “That doesn’t look good,” Anne said.
The three girls snuggled up tight as the headrest lowered itself down over them. “I’m getting out of here!” Tabby shouted, and with a blink of light, the three were gone.
*****
There was a blink of light. Aunt Dan-Dan blinked. The snail oozed across her eyelid. He pulled it off, and stuck it on her toe, which just happened to be wrapped around a tea bag. This was ordinary, for Dan-Dan.
*****
“I am sorry,” Christy repeated, as Isabelle unlocked the house door. “Really sorry.”
Isabelle hissed at her, and slammed the door. She was being too harsh, perhaps. But her husband, her beloved, was lying semi-conscious in a hospital bed, it was her right to over react. She shrunk into her cat form, and prowled across to the sofa, leaping up onto the armrest. She flicked the TV on with her tail.
A television announcer was telling the news. “In other news, the known criminal Abu Fletcher is still at loose. The villain known best for his high-spy-crimes at sea, and rumoured involvement in the 7/11 attacks was last spotted north of Antarctica. Abu Fletcher is a dangerous man, and police forces across the globe are searching for him. Although many of his men have been captured, both dead and alive, they have never been contained. Within twelve hours of their capture, the bodies of his followers are rescued, and reported to have been seen alive at other locations.”
Izzy switched it off. She was not interested in world affairs, although this man’s uncanny medical abilities intrigued her, this was not the time to think about them.
She arched her back in a stretch, and formed into her human form, laying full out across the sofa. Standing, she walked up the steps and peaked into the girl’s room before heading to bed herself. She bent over Tabby’s bed to kiss her goodnight. She was not there. Neither was Kelly, or Anne-Gora.
A sharp hiss filled her throat, and she scrambled from the room, down the stairs. “Anne, Kelly, Tabby Cole, where are you?”
She noticed the study door open. Stepped inside.
The seat was switched on, and a fleck of fur was all that was left of her kittens.
To be continued...
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